The surveillance of ground topography is well known in the art. In ground surveillance it is highly desirable to detect whether there has been a material failure in a man-made object such as a road, a pipeline, an electrical grid, or other man-made structures of practical interest. When detected, a determination is made if remedial action must be taken. Often times a visual inspection is provided by a land-based crew that traverses an area by vehicle or foot, to determine if there is a material failure. In many cases it is required to inspect man-made structures frequently in order to determine the likelihood or development of potential material failures. In many cases these inspections are done by a ground site survey; individuals visit these locations and take measurements or other form of data on-site. Routinely the inspection crews carry a variety of maps drawings and other representations. This process becomes cumbersome, costly, inconvenient, and in many cases unreliable and unsafe due to the danger of initiating investigatory or repair work on areas where buried cables or sewer lines may be present for example. It is frequently the case that an aircraft or a satellite includes an image capture device such as a charge coupled device (CCD). Airborne photographic systems can also be used for capturing images of adjacent areas. These images are then reviewed to determine if there is a material failure. Even though a failure in a man-made object can be identified, it is sometimes difficult to determine the location of that man-made failure relative to other landmarks or locations.